World of Darkness
by Matthicus
Summary: This world is no more, there isn't much hope for it left. It was consumed by darkness long ago and only one person has the 'audacity' to care. Ian Miles is a boy almost to adulthood and he is fighting back and trying to save the humanity that was lost. He's the only one who believes in the light, and for that, he is a criminal. His only hope is the long forgotten Guardians.
1. Ch1 - Criminals bearing Gifts

**Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians.**

Chapter 1: The Criminal bearing Gifts

My name is Ian Miles, and I... I live in a world where I am rejected for who I am. My world is a world of darkness gripped by fear, one where hate and pain are everyday commodities. It is wrapped in sin, devoured by greed and lost to temptation. I do not enjoy this, and I'm one of the extreme minority. In fact, I could be the only one in the entire world. I am one who tries to hide from the darkness, but that is what makes me different. My kind don't look upon me the same, they see a _weakling_, just because I won't steal my breakfast or fight for sport. They mock me for my purity, my unwillingness to commit a crime. The mocking isn't even the worst part, in this world I am a criminal.

I am a criminal who tries in vain to protect the innocent. Sadly, the innocent disappear every day, hundreds by the second and that is what I try to prevent. You see, children here are forced to make a choice, become one with the darkness or die. They usually are too young to actually make the decision and are consumed by the world. I too had to make this choice, but I managed an escape before I could die, and I am now a fugitive. The people of my city don't know this of course, they just see me as a lowly piece of filth, one too scared to _enjoy _life. That is pretty common here, people too scared to act with the growing evil. So I use this image of myself to my advantage. I use my disguise so that I may stay alive long enough to make a difference.

That's really all I want. I want the world to change. I can't do it alone, but I can try. I have all I need. I have the stories of a world before this happened. I know of a life filled with light, a place where people grew up happy. If I could I would spread the word and slowly cause a rebellion, but this information is forbidden in this world and if anyone knew that I know about the past, I would be betrayed and killed almost instantly.

I have to hide and act in secret. My work is severely damaged by the slow pace and the futility of it all makes it hard to continue, but I will not stop. For one reason alone: I still Believe, and with that belief I will change the world and bring back the Guardians.

My greatest problem is that I don't know how.

It was a dark cloudless night with the moon hanging over head. Tonight was special to the world before and with an old tradition in mind, again I would make the annual journey around my city, Burgess, in an effort to save the children. I would go around and deliver crude wooden toys, but my creations were almost always found and destroyed, but I had to do something to make the children find light. I had to. I couldn't reach the whole world like the stories said, but I could hit a large portion of the city I lived in. I even already planned tonights event, I knew which houses contained children, which houses to avoid, and I had a path that would make this job easier.

Nonetheless, the hardest part of this job was getting the toys around, and not getting caught with them.

I sat on a rooftop, crouching low to avoid detection in the moonlight. I was properly outfitted, slim pants, climbing boots, a thick sleeveless shirt and a cloak to block the cold, and very ready to start my night. Holding my cloak and bag closely, I slunk my way over the cold tiles of the roof, it was my first house of the night and I couldn't wait to get started. I also couldn't prevent feeling nervous as I made my way to the large brick chimney, my first wooden toy in hand. The little animal I had made was only a carving, and they were all animals, because I couldn't risk an unsatisfied child and a lot of people liked animals. This one in particular was a little dog, dogs were easy and they were one of the carvings I produced in the masses. Now to deliver it to the child in the house below.

My job was easy enough, I didn't sneak into houses or anything, I just dropped a toy down inside through the chimney. It was easy. Sadly, I had only managed to make a couple hundred toys this year. Dropping them off would be a walk in the park and I would be done in no time, but two-hundred hand sized wooden toys in a large rucksack still could make a lot of noise, not to mention that the bag was very heavy.

My route was easy, I hopped from roof to roof, slowly building a rhythm that allowed me to crawl over a house, drop a toy and leap off to the next house, all without making a noise. The bag was getting lighter and lighter until I checked my progress; I only had one toy left to deliver. Things were going great and maybe I could get home early. I kept going, now acting on the energy provided by my thoughts. I was almost done and could go home to rest, so I had to finish faster.

And that, is where I made my _first _mistake. In my hurry to get to the last house I misjudged my jump. I flew and to dismay, was falling short a mere few _inches_. I reached out in desperation, dropping the bag in an attempt to save my life. It fell to the ground, the last toy spilling out onto the ground. I didn't see it hit, all I saw was the roof I clung to desperately, hanging off the edge by my fingers. I was quickly slipping and I tried to hold on, the tips of my fingers turning white as I lost feeling in them. I looked down hoping that I wasn't too high up, I was. I couldn't get down, but I had to figure out how to get back up either.

"What a fix."

Upon hearing those words I blanched, my face turning as white as my fingers. Again, I looked down below in horror, if one of the guards of the city had spotted me and if they just so happened to see the bag and toy I would be doomed. My efforts would all be for naught, but it wasn't a guard that I was staring at. It was a plump old man, with blue eyes, white hair and a matching beard. Although he wasn't a guard, _of any sort_, he could still be anyone. I had to get away and hope this man forgot me, I had to play it cool and focus on escape _and_ distract my surprise visitor so that he wouldn't call some kind of law enforcement.

"I'm not in a fix." I lied coyly. If that worked I was better off than I thought, anyone to fall for that would have to be _daft_.

"Oh, then I assume you don't need help?" he asked. He sounded genuinely concerned, which was odd and unheard of in this world, but it meant he believed me. Then again, the way he said it made me wonder. Was he messing with me?

"Oh no, I'm fine. I was just going home." That was almost true.

"By jumping across rooftops and dropping things into chimney?" How long was he following me? I wasn't going too fast, anyone could follow my progress, but they had to see me first.

"Oh yeah, that's the best way to go home; It makes me feel good to drop stupid wood into stupid peoples houses, it messes with them see." I had no choice but to play the stupid prankster now, Mr. Old Guy knew too much and I had to make it seem like I was doing this to make people mad. I couldn't admit to leaving gifts for children, I would be found out. If someone cruel caught me and I told them what I was doing and I made it seem bad, they would find it funny and I would get off scotch free. That was my only escape.

"This looks like toy, toys don't make people angry. Besides, these houses only have children in them. Are these for the children?" So he had found my toy, but how did he deduce my scheme. There were two possibilities for this situation. This guy did this too, or he was some kind of government spy and he was just teasing me, he knew all about my schemes and was just waiting for his comrades to arrive and drag me off to some prison. The latter seemed more believable and I would die, no time for staying and getting caught.

With a new effort born of fear, I scrambled and swung, madly trying to get back on the roof. I heard a deep rumbling laughter as the man watched me struggle, but I didn't care. I wasn't about to get caught. With a final swing I was able to get a leg up onto the ledge of the roof and I pulled myself up and was running the moment I got up.

My escape went smoothly and I watched the streets to be sure. The old man was no longer in sight and I was able to get away, but I still had to make sure they couldn't follow me. I had to loop around an alternate route and lose any followers before I could get home.

Without luggage, and a lot of adrenaline, I was able to make my way swiftly from rooftop to rooftop in a large and very complicated pattern around the city. It was an hour, however, until I made it home, but I was sure I had no pursuers. Just to be safe, I dropped down off of the roof of a house a block from my humble abode. I walked down the street, pulling my hood up and over my head to mask my appearance. I looked like a lowly criminal, slinking his way through the night, but that was the norm here, so I didn't catch any attention. Not that there was any attention to be had in the dead of night.

I made my way to the smallest house in the area and I took a small silver key from out of my shirt and tugged off the necklace it was attached to. Sliding the small piece of metal into the lock I turned it and made my way into my house. It was cold and it smelt musty and damp, but I had been living here ever since I could remember. I didn't want to leave.

Not looking around, since no one could get into my house, I turned around and checked the streets for any sign of life that could possibly have been following me. There was none. I shut the door softly and locked it again. With the secure click of the lock I let loose a long sigh of relief. I had once again survived a night of illegal activities. I was going to be fine for a while.

Slipping my key back around my neck I turned to a hook on the wall beside my door. Tugging off my cloak I placed it gently on the twisted metal that was meant to hold the article of clothing. I kicked out of my boots and placed them under the cloak and against the wall. Twisting on my feet I observed the small one room place I called home and was very appalled to find a very familiar, blue-eyed, white haired, old man sitting in my only chair by my meager table and fireplace.

"Oh, so you do live here Ian. Nice to see you again and I must say, what a nice place you have." he said with a twinkle of mischief in his eyes.

**This is the first chapter of another fic I started writing, I hope I explained enough and got a few of you interested. I would like to see what a few of you think about this first chapter. The second chap. is on the way and I hope it and this chapter will be accepted. Thanks for reading this by the way! (Considering the only way you got to the bottom of the page was because you read it, or maybe I'm just being too hopeful and you might have just skipped to the end...)**


	2. Ch2 - Meeting the Forgotten

**Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians.**

Chapter 2 - Meeting the Forgotten

"Eh?" was all I managed to say in reply to the old man. He only laughed at me and didn't say another thing. I didn't understand what was going on and had to figure it out.

"Who are you, and how did you get here? Why are you following me?"

"Oh, I just fell in through fireplace." At that remark I couldn't help but just gawk. My mouth hung open and I just stood there. The idea of someone large as him even _fitting_ in my fireplace was ludicrous. Not to mention he said he just fell in. Regaining my composure I tried again to get some answers, this time I'll be more specific.

"And what exactly were you doing on my roof?" I asked sarcastically.

"I was trying to find your house." he replied, as if stalking teenagers was normal. Who knows, it might have been in this hell hole.

"Well, that's great. You found it, but answer me this now. Why are were you looking for my house!?" I was screaming now, this guy was giving the absolute minimum required to answer my questions and frankly, it was getting to me.

"I wanted to thank you."

"I don- " I paused, I had been prepared to yell at the old man for saying something stupid again, but he had actually given a straight answer and it was surprising; "Wait? Thank me? For what?" Now I was beyond comprehending this situation.

"Yes thank you. You did me great justice."

"I've never met you before." He seemed familiar though, but I wasn't going to tell him that.

"Nope, but you believe, and you did me big favor tonight." He said something about my beliefs? He also said I did something for him tonight, but it wasn't for him. I was passing out toys to the children in an effort to change the worlds. _Toys_. _Old Man with white hair and blue eyes_. _Jolly outlook_. It all made sense, but it was impossible. I had to make sure...

"That wasn't for you. It was for the -" but he cut me off.

"- Children." he finished. "Yes, I did that for them too, once." He seemed to have been reading my mind, and it had nothing to do with how he finished my sentence. It was how he answered my question, making sure that I figured out who he was. I had figured it out of course, but I was still unsure. I was familiar with pranks, this could be some elaborate trap.

"Prove to me that you are the person you are actually insinuating to be." This would clear everything up. If he could prove he was Santa, I would be sure this wasn't a lie. He could help me out with my goal. He would basically have to, right?

"Fine, you have knife for carving and wood to be whittled?" Without speaking I gathered a spare piece of wood by my fireplace, it was kind of dry, but if this was Santa, he could turn it into anything. Handing him the wood, I went over to my nightstand and opened the top drawer to grab the knife I used to whittle. If this was a trap, handing my knife over was a bad idea.

"Can I trust you?" I knew that even if he answered yes I couldn't just put blind faith into him, but I would give him a chance.

"No you shouldn't, but I would like you to try." _He knows how to make a kid feel safe..._ I conceited to the man's request and I handed him the blade.

Like I wanted him to, he set to work. First, he used the serrated edge of the long knife to saw a chunk of wood away from the main body. Once he had a piece of wood the size of my pinky(which was roughly 2 inches long) he began to draw the knife against the surface of the wood, removing thin slices from the small chunk. Soon, he was moving his hands so fast that I couldn't tell what he was doing anymore. I would be more surprised by the fact that his hands escaped unscathed and not about whatever he made.

It wasn't a long wait and I barely had enough time to look through the pantry and find food I could prepare for myself. I decided on a simple sandwich and by the time I had finished making it I heard the bellow of success from the large man behind me. I turned to analyze the thing he had made _and_ his hands. Sure enough his hands had not a mark on them, but I honestly forgot how to breathe when I saw what he held. It was a miniature version of me, I was wearing different clothes, but the face was so detailed and each muscle and contour of my body was matched perfectly by the little wooden clone.

"Do you believe me now?" he asked sillily, it was not even a question my awestruck expression couldn't answer, but I gave him a vocal affirmation just because I knew he would want one.

"I always have." I turned back to look at his face, did he have a red nose? Kind of. Rosy Cheeks? Yes. Wow, he really was Santa. "But what are you doing here?" I asked. "You could get in trouble or something!" As soon as I said it Santa cracked a knowing smile and I knew that what I had said wasn't true.

"I can only be seen by those who believe. So, now that I know who my only believer is; I must grace him with proper introduction." he stood and bowed gracefully, "You may call me North." Okay, that was kind of disappointing, his name wasn't even Santa. Where had that rumor come from? He must've noticed my confusion so he continued, "You must be wondering why I am not called Santa. Da?" I nodded. "That silly name comes from workshop, my toy factory of sorts. Is called Santoff Claussen. Easy to see where name comes from now; Da?" This time my nod wasn't as excited, but his explanation made sense, so I didn't ask any more questions about his name.

"Well, that only leaves a couple more questions, but I don't know if I should ask the second one. The first however you _have_ to answer: Why did you come here? Yeah, I know I was doing you some kind of favor, but why show yourself now?"

"I came to thank you and to tell you about us." he replied solemnly. 'Us?'

"Who's "Us"?" I asked, not realizing how foolishly the question was phrased until it left me.

"We are Guardians, spirits that represent myths and stories you have believed in your whole life. I want to tell you we are real, all of us. Now, there is matter to attend to, you had 'other question'?" I guess I couldn't avoid asking my second question now, no matter how reluctant I was to ask it.

"Where did you go, what happened, why is the world like this? I thought you were here to protect us." The hurt I saw in his blue eyes told me that I should of kept my mouth shut. I didn't mean to hurt his feelings, that was why I had tried avoiding the question to begin with.

"We were beaten by Fear. He caused the children to lose their faith in us and we paid the price for not preventing it. We no longer have strength to support our holidays; We can't help the world as it is now. _We_ are the ones needing the help." He sounded so defeated.

"Well, now that you're back. Can I do anything to help?" I don't know where the question came from, but I had been fighting for this chance since I had began to believe. I couldn't lose it.

"That is reason behind why I am here, I couldn't just thank you without offering you a favor. Your belief is reason I can even still exist. In fact, you have idea backwards, we are here to help _you_." He said, pushing a stubby finger into my chest for emphasis. I couldn't help but return the confident smile that had appeared on North's face as he spoke to me. "So, what is plan?"

"Plan?!"

**Now that Ian has met North it is time for him to get his plans together(you saw how he didn't know what he was doing, yet).**

**Hope to hear what you people think about this fic. (Would love to know whether or not I am successfully keeping this fic serious, enough)**


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